Northwestern University, known for their stunning lakeside campus and strong programs in medicine and journalism, attracts many talented applicants every year. Their accomplished alumni include George R. R. Martin, Seth Myers, Gillian Flynn, and Adlai Stevenson II. Hoping to become a Wildcat? You’ll need to nail your Northwestern supplemental essays. Let’s dive in.
Northwestern’s 2024-2025 Prompts
Required Short Essay Question
- We want to be sure we’re considering your application in the context of your personal experiences: What aspects of your background (your identity, your school setting, your community, your household, etc.) have most shaped how you see yourself engaging in Northwestern’s community, be it academically, extracurricularly, culturally, politically, socially, or otherwise? (fewer than 300 words)
Optional Short Essay Questions
We encourage you to answer at least one and no more than two of the following questions. Please respond in fewer than 200 words per question:
- Painting “The Rock” is a tradition at Northwestern that invites all forms of expression—students promote campus events or extracurricular groups, support social or activist causes, show their Wildcat spirit (what we call “Purple Pride”), celebrate their culture, and more. What would you paint on The Rock, and why?
- Northwestern fosters a distinctively interdisciplinary culture. We believe discovery and innovation thrive at the intersection of diverse ideas, perspectives, and academic interests. Within this setting, if you could dream up an undergraduate class, research project, or creative effort (a start-up, a design prototype, a performance, etc.), what would it be? Who might be some ideal classmates or collaborators?
- Community and belonging matter at Northwestern. Tell us about one or more communities, networks, or student groups you see yourself connecting with on campus.
- Northwestern’s location is special: on the shore of Lake Michigan, steps from downtown Evanston, just a few miles from Chicago. What aspects of our location are most compelling to you, and why?
- Northwestern is a place where people with diverse backgrounds from all over the world can study, live, and talk with one another. This range of experiences and viewpoints immeasurably enriches learning. How might your individual background contribute to this diversity of perspectives in Northwestern’s classrooms and around our campus?
General Tips
Although Northwestern does not require the Common App personal essay, they do require you to write at least one supplemental essay in order to apply. Furthermore, you can add on one or two more essays to share more about yourself and who you’ll be at Northwestern.
Although taking the time to write these optional essays isn’t required, doing so could boost your chances of acceptance to Northwestern. There are four reasons for this:
- Writing the optional essays shows your dedication and eagerness to attend Northwestern.
- Submitting more essays causes the admissions team to spend more time thinking about you and envisioning who you’ll be at Northwestern.
- Writing more essays about who you will be at Northwestern, and thinking about Northwestern more generally, will help you better understand who you are as a college applicant and what opportunities are available to you.
- Giving Northwestern more materials about yourself allows you the space to give the admissions team more reasons to be interested in you as an applicant.
For these reasons, it’s not only advisable to write one or two of the optional Northwestern supplemental essays, but also to submit both the Common App personal essay and the required Northwestern supplemental essay. This is as opposed to repurposing the Common app personal essay to write the required essay.
That said, there are also a few reasons not to write the optional essays:
- Writing is truly not your strong suit, and you’d rather the admissions team focus on your other application elements.
- Northwestern is not a top choice for you, and you’re just throwing on the extra application without much concern for your chances.
- You don’t have the time to write good essays that you are proud of.
If any of the above reasons are true for you, you should feel justified in skipping the optional essays. After all, they are optional. But, if you change your mind, refer to this article and/or send in your essays to our College Essay Review service.
Northwestern Required Short Essay Question
We want to be sure we’re considering your application in the context of your personal experiences: What aspects of your background (your identity, your school setting, your community, your household, etc.) have most shaped how you see yourself engaging in Northwestern’s community, be it academically, extracurricularly, culturally, politically, socially, or otherwise? (300 words or fewer)
This essay response is your chance to provide the admissions team at Northwestern with additional information about your background and life experiences that is not otherwise communicated in your application. In addition, you should frame those aspects of your background and life experiences that you wish to discuss in the context of how they will impact the way you navigate Northwestern.
What does this look like in practice? For instance, you could begin your essay by discussing your experience as a homeschooled student, before explaining how that aspect of your background will influence your experience at Northwestern as a self-motivated, self-guided learner. Alternatively, you could write about how the culture you grew up in has impacted your personal values, daily habits, and life goals. Because of this background, you are approaching your Northwestern experience with an open mind to learn about others’ cultures, values, lifestyles, and goals.
However you choose to respond to this essay prompt, think of it as just another Common App personal statement, just a bit shorter. On their admissions website, Northwestern writes, “Because we have a required writing component to our supplement, we made the personal essay optional—we want applicants to feel free to repurpose essays (or parts of essays) they’ve written for other applications, including the personal essay.” In other words, whether you choose to send in your Common App essay or not, approach this essay prompt similarly. Still, if you send in both essays, make sure that they are not redundant.
Northwestern Optional Short Essay Questions
These essay prompts are optional, but we recommend answering at least one of them; you can answer up to two. Every essay opportunity is another opportunity to demonstrate to Northwestern how excited you are to attend and how well you’ll fit in as a student.
Each essay response is limited to 200 words.
1. Painting “The Rock” is a tradition at Northwestern that invites all forms of expression—students promote campus events or extracurricular groups, support social or activist causes, show their Wildcat spirit (what we call “Purple Pride”), celebrate their culture, and more. What would you paint on The Rock, and why?
This prompt gives you the opportunity to share your creative side with the Northwestern admissions team. In your response to this prompt, you can reveal your identity, cultural background, political opinions, and/or artistic vision, whether directly or indirectly. Consider the parts of yourself that you haven’t yet discussed elsewhere in your college application. Or, write about the parts of yourself that would benefit from further details.
For example, if activism is important to you, discuss how you would use the opportunity to paint The Rock to provoke civil discourse. Specify the message(s) you would write or the content of the art you intend to create. If you have a background in art and/or activism, you could also write about your past experiences with communicating messages through art and/or activism. Remember to look into the history of The Rock to better understand how others have used it for activist causes in the past.
Alternatively, if there is a particular art form that speaks to you, or a cultural expression you hope to see at Northwestern, start by explaining to the reader why your intended painting on the rock is important to you. Then, dive into the details of how you would implement your vision.
2. Northwestern fosters a distinctively interdisciplinary culture. We believe discovery and innovation thrive at the intersection of diverse ideas, perspectives, and academic interests. Within this setting, if you could dream up an undergraduate class, research project, or creative effort (a start-up, a design prototype, a performance, etc.), what would it be? Who might be some ideal classmates or collaborators?
This is a multi-part question, so it might be helpful to break it down:
- What is your interdisciplinary vision for Northwestern?
- Why is this your vision?
- What motivates this vision?
- How do you hope to implement this vision?
- Is this through a class, a musical, a new club, or some other vehicle.?
- Who do you hope to work with?
- Are they current faculty or staff members at Northwestern?
- What types of members of the Northwestern community do you hope to meet during your undergraduate experience whom you envision as ideal collaborators?
- What are the characteristics of the people you wish to work with?
- Why do you want to work with this person or these people?
- Bonus question: What resources will you need to complete this project?
- Are these resources you have already researched and which are available at Northwestern?
While brainstorming your response to this question, try to answer all of the questions listed above. Some of those questions are explicit in the prompt, while others are implicit. Regardless, once you have answered all or most of those questions, you should have all the material ready to answer this prompt. If you’re lucky, you might just be able to add some transition words and be good to go!
3. Community and belonging matter at Northwestern. Tell us about one or more communities, networks, or student groups you see yourself connecting with on campus.
This question requires a bit of research before you get going on your response. Look up clubs, groups, alliances, and other student organizations Northwestern. Check out the directory; it’s quite extensive, so you’re likely going to find numerous groups that pique your interest. Note that there are still other affinity groups, sports teams, etc. that are not listed in the link provided above.
In your essay, it’s important to not only name the group(s) that interest you, but also explain why. Tell the reader how joining this group will make you feel at home, challenge you to become a better version of yourself, push you outside your comfort zone, and so on. Describe what you hope to learn and who you hope to meet.
In addition, be sure to mention at least briefly your intended contributions to the groups you’d like to join. This can look like pursuing an administrative role in the group. Or, for instance, you might bring some related work experience to the table. Alternatively, maybe you have a unique perspective on the social issue a certain a group focuses on, or a lived experience related to a certain cultural group. Whatever ways you hope to contribute, be specific and humble in your explanation of them.
4. Northwestern’s location is special: on the shore of Lake Michigan, steps from downtown Evanston, just a few miles from Chicago. What aspects of our location are most compelling to you, and why?
If you come from a place that is very different to Northwestern, then you should dive right into your reasons for seeking a new experience. If your hometown is similar to Evanston, then perhaps you could discuss how you’ll feel at home at Northwestern even while being in a new place. You can also bring up some of the subtle differences! And, lastly, if you are from the area around Northwestern, you should explain why staying close to home is important to you.
Before answering this question, it’s advisable to undertake some research. Look up the local demographics, resources, history, and politics. Understanding the community in Evanston and in the surrounding area will be integral when you embark upon your essay. If you skip out on the thorough research, you risk making untrue assumptions or generalizing the experience of people who live at or near Northwestern. If possible, speak to a local or a current/recent graduate of Northwestern. You can also read about real people’s experiences as students at Northwestern and/or living in the area.
5. Northwestern is a place where people with diverse backgrounds from all over the world can study, live, and talk with one another. This range of experiences and viewpoints immeasurably enriches learning. How might your individual background contribute to this diversity of perspectives in Northwestern’s classrooms and around our campus?
Think about who you’ll be in the patchwork of Northwestern students. How do you envision yourself fitting in? What about your life experiences and cultural background are unique? What identities do you hold that are less common or commonly misunderstood?
Before you begin writing, make a short list of all the aspects of yourself you wish to write about. Although there’s no strict limit on how many identities or elements of your background you can write about in this essay, you may want to keep your list short simply so that each item can be given its due nuance and detail.
Lastly, while drafting this essay, bear in mind that you need to contextualize with Northwestern’s particular community. In other words, don’t just describe your identities broadly. Rather, note how you will uniquely fit in and stand out at Northwestern. You can even branch out to discussing the different people you hope to meet and learn from, as well as describing how you will contribute to the community.
If you need help polishing up your Northwestern supplemental essays, check out our College Essay Review service. You can receive detailed feedback from Ivy League consultants in as little as 24 hours.
